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Biden in France for Critical Trip Amid Global, Domestic Crises; Soon, Day 3 of Hunter Biden's Federal Gun Trial; Heat Dome Sends Temps into Triple-Digits Across Western U.S. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 05, 2024 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[07:00:00]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: You might remember that very famous movie. Well, in real life, a group of kids up and close and personal with a T. Rex, obviously less scary, not alive. The Associated Press says three young cousins were wandering through the North Dakota badlands when they found a T. Rex bone. It is now a special exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science called Discovering T. Rex, and there's also a new documentary.

Wow, you never know what you might find when you're out hiking.

Thanks to our panel, thanks to all of you for being here. I'm Kasie Hunt, CNN News Central starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Overnight, President Biden arrived in France for a huge overseas trip. The White House and the Biden campaign have a lot riding on this, the unwelcome headline that greeted them on arrival.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The president's son, Hunter Biden, headed back to court. The first witness in his federal trial headed back on the stand. Outside of court, though, fireworks, Hunter Biden's wife confronting a Trump ally outside the courthouse.

And third time's a charm. They hope soon Boeing makes its third attempt to get its historic mission to space off the ground. Let's see what happens this time.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman. Sarah Sider is out today. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: And breaking overnight, President Biden arrived in France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day. It is the beginning of a succession of major events. The White House hopes to use to shore up alliances and draw distinctions with Donald Trump. It culminates with the CNN debate on June 27th.

Now, while the president was met with all the normal diplomatic pleasantries, he was also greeted by a new headline in the Wall Street Journal, an article filled with accounts mostly from Republicans, headlined, behind closed doors, Biden shows signs of slipping. CNN Senior White House Correspondent Kayla Tausche is traveling with the President this morning. Kayla, great to have you here. What's this trip supposed to be about?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the trip is about a lot, John. It's about shoring up alliances, some of which these allies have broken with President Biden over his handling of the situation in Gaza, some of which are trying to shore up funding to continue coming to Ukraine's defenses. And it's also about shoring up goodwill back home with many Americans frustrated with the protracted war in Ukraine and angry over the fate of civilians in Gaza. Biden is trying to project leadership on the world stage, as you mentioned, drawing a distinction with Donald Trump, his predecessor and now GOP opponent.

And in the words of National Security Spokesman John Kirby, he believes we're at an inflection point in history. It's tied to the way geopolitics are changing the way challenges are being presented to us around the world, making it clear what you stand for and what you stand against matters.

President Biden will, again, make the argument that Standing up to tyranny is important, and this week he will do that against the backdrop of Normandy, a pivotal turning point in World War II, where American and allied forces invaded Normandy and stormed the beaches and led to the liberation of France and of Europe. And he's going to be talking about the lives that were lost in that effort and drawing the parallels, drawing the through line in the words of the administration to where we are today and why freedom matters so much.

He will be participating in the official Normandy ceremonies with other world leaders tomorrow, it should be noted that Biden is likely the last American president to have been alive during D-Day, and he is going to be laying a wreath at the World War I cemetery in Paris on Sunday before heading home. John?

BERMAN: Here we are looking at pictures of his arrival, Kayla, and, obviously, as you said, this trip is to project leadership both at home and abroad, and to arrive with this Wall Street Journal story hitting the newsstands, obviously it's been in the works for a long time about the president's age, what's the White House saying about that?

TAUSCHE: Well, the White House is on the defensive, as expected, when this article came out. The Wall Street Journal interviewed 45 individuals over the course of several months, and they said that they interviewed people on both sides of the aisle, including some Democrats who raised concerns about Biden's age becoming evident in their interactions with the president.

But the White House spokesman, Andrew Bates, responding, saying this Congressional Republicans, foreign leaders and nonpartisan national security experts have made clear in their own words that President Biden is a savvy and effective leader who has a deep record of legislative accomplishment.

[07:05:06]

Now, in 2024, House Republicans are making false claims as a political tactic that flatly contradict previous statements made by themselves and their colleagues, highlighting House Republicans notably there because the on the record critic in the story was former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. John?

BERMAN: All right. Kayla Tausche for us in Paris this morning covering the president's trip, Kayla, great to see you, thank you very much.

BOLDUAN: And breaking overnight, President Biden's sweeping executive order at the southern border is now in effect. The new policy giving the president and border officials the ability to effectively shut down the border almost immediately, and here's why. Border officials can begin turning away almost all migrants when the daily average of illegal crossings hits 2,500. Average daily arrests for illegal crossings from Mexico, people not crossing at ports of entry, were last below 2,500 in like January of 2021.

The move by Biden is getting slammed by Republicans, saying it's too little too late, and Democrats are divided on this, some of them applauding the president and his move, others slamming the move as going way too far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. AYANNA PRESSLEY (D-MA): It is extremely disappointing that this White House would choose to double down on the previous administration's harmful and flawed immigration policies.

REP. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): It's not perfect, but I am supportive of the action that he took today.

REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): He knows that probably the courts will reject it, as they did when President Trump did it, and that really throws the issue back to Congress.

REP. TOM SUOZZI (D-NY): The asylum is a very important part of America's history, but now the system is being abused.

I think it was the right thing to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: All right, you see both sides of Democrats -- both sides of the Democratic Party speaking right there on full display.

Arlette Saenz is at the White House for us. What is the White House thinking about this as the reaction, as we just played, has been coming in swift?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, President Biden's executive action on the border went into effect at midnight, really marking a significant shift in this administration's approach to border security policy. Now, it does come as the president has been facing some criticism from Republicans and members of his own party to this approach. But, essentially, what this plan is doing. It is preventing migrants who are crossing the country illegally from seeking asylum at the U.S. southern border when that certain daily threshold is met. That figure is 2,500 encounters. If you take a look at this past Monday, border authorities apprehended about 3,500, meaning that this went into effect right away.

Now, administration officials say that this would be lifted when those average encounters reach around 1,500, but that could take some time, especially as officials are anticipating there could be a surge in migrants coming to the U.S. southern border in the summer months.

Now, there are exceptions for unaccompanied children, victims of severe trafficking and other special circumstances, but migrants can still continue to make appointments through the CBP app to try to seek asylum in a legal way.

Now, this will require cooperation from Mexico, President Biden, in the past 48 hours, jumping on the phone with both the current and incoming presidents of that country. But as you heard there has been pushback from members of President Biden's own parties, progressives who are saying that he is simply drawing from the Trump playbook. In fact, this executive action draws from an authority that former President Trump tried to use when he was in office, but it was ultimately struck down in court.

Now, Biden tried to argue that he had no choice. He needed to act after Republicans had scuttled that bipartisan bill or bipartisan talks back earlier in this winter. But it does come as the administration is expecting there will be legal challenges down the road. They think this will stand in court. Of course, this is coming just before a few weeks away as this first debate with Trump at a time when immigration has become a top concern for many voters.

BOLDUAN: That is for sure. Arlette, thank you so much, from the White House for us. John?

BERMAN: Hunter Biden's laptop and photos of his drug use now entered into evidence at his federal gun trial. What we are learning from the FBI agent who will be back on the stand this morning.

Today, millions of Americans are under extreme heat warnings as officials around the country prepare for life threatening triple-digit temperatures.

And a new form of birth control for men. It is a gel and you will never guess where they rub it, their shoulders.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: This morning, Hunter Biden's federal gun trial picks back up with an FBI agent returning to the stand. The agent is the prosecution's first witness. And in what ended up being fiery opening statements yesterday, prosecutors tried to use Hunter Biden's own words against him to lay out their narrative, pulling from his autobiography, where he said at one point in his life, he was quote up smoking every 15 minutes, seven days a week. Prosecutors also sharing Hunter Biden's own pictures displaying drugs.

CNN's Marshall Cohen is outside court, been following this for us from Wilmington, Delaware. Marshall, what's expected to happen today?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Kate. Good morning. Later today, we are expecting testimony from Hunter Biden's ex wife, Kathleen Buhle. She is one of three exes that prosecutors have lined up to testify against Hunter Biden in this case. Why is she relevant? Well, according to the special counsel, Ms. Buhle can tell the jury that even though they were divorced in 2017, she did check Hunter's car in 2018 and occasionally found drugs or drug paraphernalia.

[07:15:05]

That's important because the prosecutors are trying to connect Hunter's drug use in 2018 to the gun that he bought that year. If they can make that connection, they could probably get a conviction.

But before they get to Ms. Buhle they need to wrap up the testimony of a special agent from the FBI, who is on the stand yesterday and will be back on the stand at 9:00 A.M. today. They used her testimony to bring in a ton of the digital evidence in this case, text messages from Hunter Biden's laptop, photos, even a shirtless video of him holding what looked like a crack pipe.

But they also used that FBI agent to bring in excerpts from the memoir that you mentioned. The jury heard about an hour of material from the memoir. I want to play for you one clip. The jury heard this yesterday. It's Hunter Biden in his own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTER BIDEN, PRESIDENT BIDEN'S SON: I possessed a new superpower, the ability to find crack in any town at any time, no matter how unfamiliar the terrain. It was easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So, two final points. Number one, of course, Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. And, number two, his team has really pushed back. Yes, he was addicted to drugs at some points in his life. He's been very open about that. But, no, the prosecution cannot prove that he was using drugs or knew that he was addicted to drugs when he bought that gun. Guys?

BOLDUAN: All right. Let's see what happens today. We've got to pick back up. Marshall, thank you for being there and for the reporting.

Also still ahead for us, millions of Americans are facing a severe heat warnings today as what is ominously known as a heat dome is covering large parts of the Western United States and triple-digit temperatures already in this early summer.

Nearly ten years after being acquitted of murder for her roommate's death in Italy, Amanda Knox was just back in an Italian court upholding a slander conviction against her. What that now means for Amanda Knox.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: All right. This morning, heat records likely to shatter. A heat dome is parking itself over millions of Americans across the Western United States. Temperatures will hit triple digits.

A heat dome is a large area of high pressure that traps air and heats it up with lots of sunshine for days or even weeks.

CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa is with us now. This sounds pretty hot.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and it's early. We're only in the first week of June, so even for places like Vegas and Phoenix that do get extreme heat in the summer, this is early even for them. You have warning stretching from Sacramento to Las Vegas and Phoenix through the end of the week. A lot of these warnings last until Friday because we're looking at record warm temperatures. About 100 records could fall both on daytime highs and overnight lows, again, as this is way above average even for this time of year.

Vegas, typically, your average high is about 96 degrees. We could be looking at the earliest 110 degree temperature on record. Phoenix, the same about, 100 is your average for this time of year. Temperatures are climbing to about 115 degrees as we wrap up the week. Look at the departure from average. Again, we're 15 to 20 degrees above normal. You're looking at highs in the 90s, even as far east as Denver. That's a good 15 degrees above normal.

So, we have some warnings out there for major or extreme impacts for heat sickness. Again, dangerous for early June, not quite acclimated to the heat, so you want to just check on kids, elderly and pets. Also adding insult to injury, temperatures at night really not falling all too much. A lot of places, they stay in the 80s.

Now, for a place like Vegas, the last time they had a record cold low temperature was 25 years ago. 1999 was the last time Vegas soar a record cold low temperature. And that's the trend. This extreme heat season is starting sooner. Las Vegas has a fever of about 5.6 degrees since 1970 in the summer months. Well, what does that mean? Well, that means you have more warm summer days. Nearly 40 more days in the summer since 1970 are above average in Las Vegas. And that contributes to the extreme heat season again starting sooner and then lasting later.

And like I mentioned, the overnight low is not really giving you any relief. We're looking at overnight lows only staying in the low and middle 80s in Las Vegas overnight. That means you don't get relief at night. It's hard to really recover from the daytime heat and that adds to a heat risk, same thing in Phoenix, only dropping to 85 degrees by Friday morning.

The overnight lows have an even larger fever, a nearly ten-degree fever since 1970. Think about it this way. If our average body temperature is 98 degrees, that's like having our body temperature at 108 degrees, so just incredible there, John.

BERMAN: Those trend lines are just alarming. Elisa Raffa, thank you very much for that.

So, it is not your average shoulder rub, the new gel showing promise as birth control for men.

And, no, I don't want no scrub. Happening now, two astronauts preparing for a historic launch in Florida. Will Boeing finally send its first crewed mission to space?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

BERMAN: We do have our eyes on Wilmington, Delaware for the federal gun trial involving Hunter Biden. We did hear the beginning of testimony yesterday, including an FBI agent introducing an audio recording of a book written by Hunter Biden, where he describes in great detail his drug use.

With us now, Defense and Trial Attorney Misty Marris. Counselor, great to see you this morning.

When you hear a defendant in his own voice reading an audio book like that, what's the impact on a jury? Because it's not the defendant testifying, but it almost is, right?

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE AND TRIAL ATTORNEY: Exactly, John. So, here's what I found so interesting about that. Usually, the defendant does not take the stand. So, it's very rare that the jury hears directly from them.

[07:30:02]

So, hearing this audio book, which Hunter Biden recorded in his own voice, was very impactful for the jury.